Recently, information terminal devices such as a personal digital assistance (PDA), a notebook-sized personal computer, and a portable phone have become widespread. These are usually provided with a touch panel, and provided as devices for enabling an icon (selection item) to be selected or enabling data to be input.
Icons are used in displays of these devices. When a touch panel has a small-sized display screen in the display (particularly, when many icons are displayed on one screen or one window), each icon and an anchor (a display of a link destination or the like) are display in a small size.
Therefore, even on a small touch panel screen in the case of a portable terminal device such as a portable phone device, a touch operation is designed to be performed on the screen. However, it is difficult to select icons or anchors closely spaced in a small size in a narrow region with a finger or the like when an icon or an anchor of a browser is selected from the point of view of a user.
As the related technology, for example, in Patent Document 1, technology intended to implement a pointing operation with little error as a simple operation in a small-sized portable information terminal device is disclosed. Specifically, a central processing unit (CPU) of the portable information terminal device selects a region on a screen of a small-sized liquid crystal display according to a user operation. The CPU of the portable information terminal device extracts options of selectable information from within the selected region, and selects an option of a processing target from among the extracted options. The CPU of the portable information terminal device divides a screen into a plurality of block regions in advance, manages the plurality of block regions, and selects a block region to which an indication position belongs when detecting an indication by a user operation on the screen. In addition, a process in which the CPU of the portable information terminal device controls selection of a region of a predetermined size or a region of a predetermined shape around the indication position when detecting the indication by the user operation on the screen is disclosed.
In addition, for example, in Patent Document 2, technology for preventing an icon from being erroneously selected in an information device provided with a touch panel is disclosed. Specifically, when the user touches a selection icon on the touch panel, the touched selection icon is specified based on coordinate information output from the touch panel. Next, on the touch panel, a decision icon corresponding to the selection icon is superimposed and displayed on a region adjacent to the selection icon. When the user touches the decision icon, the information device decides the selection of the selection icon.
Further, in Patent Document 3, a display device intended to reliably select a target link while recognizing the entire browser screen even in a display device of a small screen like a portable terminal is disclosed. Specifically, the display device includes a timer, which measures time from a touch start of a user touch detected on a touch panel, a display control unit, which acquires coordinate information on a display corresponding to a touch position on the touch panel, a control unit, which obtains a moving amount of the touch position from the coordinate information acquired by the display control unit, and an enlarged display control unit, which enlarges and displays a region within a predetermined range centered on coordinates indicated by the coordinate information at a position separate from the touch position in the display when the time measured by the timer exceeds a preset time and when the moving amount of the touch position obtained by the control unit falls within a preset moving amount range.